A small inn with only 10 guestrooms opened as a base station for sending information on historical and cultural town of Kakunodate

By Kikki - Last updated: 日曜日, 6月 10, 2012 - Save & Share - Leave a Comment

New Style Resort Inn with a traditional old building and an original local dish

On August 10, 2011, a new type resort inn, ‘Kakunodate-sanso WABIZAKURA’ newly opened in the historical castle town ‘Kakunodate’. The new inn with only 10 guestrooms is located in a ’Satoyama(里山)’ about 15 minutes drive from the heart of Kakunodate.

‘Kakunodate-sanso WABIZAKURA’ is consisted of two areas, a private old residence reused as a reception house and newly built two guest houses. The new inn is quietly stand in a remote Satoyama (里山) or a border zone between mountain foothills and arable flat land.

Satoyama (里山) is a Japanese term applied to the border zone or area between mountain foothills and arable flat land. Literally, sato (里) means arable and livable land or home land, and yama (山) means mountain. Satoyama which haｓ been developed through centuries of small scale agricultural and forestry use, also promise biodiversity if properly maintained by human activities.

Kakunodate is one of towns so-called ‘Little Kyoto’ in Japan

A local town ‘Kakunodate’,SenbokuCityin a center ofAkitaPrefectureis well known as one of the towns popularly called ‘Little-Kyoto’ inJapan. It was the largest castle town in the Akita-han or theAkitafeudal clan which was founded by Yoshikatsu Ashina about 390 years ago. The administrative division of that period has still remained in the town which is divided into ‘Tomachi’ orOuterTownin the South and ‘Uchimachi’ orInnerTownin the North. Most general citizens, including merchants, were lived in ‘Tomach’ and on the other hand, ‘Samurai’ or local rulers were in ‘Uchimachi’. In the ‘Uchimachi’, there are still several 200 years old residences remained where ‘Samurai’ had lived. The district with a group of these old residences is designated as the Historically Significant Traditional Buildings Perseveration Area by the Japanese Government.

Although number of arrivals inSenbokuCitycounts over 4.6 million people in a year, only less than 670 thousands stay overnight. Actually, there are only seven accommodations in Kakunodate area. The most tourists come to Kakunodate town just for sightseeing and tend to stay overnight in nearby hot spring resorts in Iawate Prefecture, such as Tsunagi Onsen and Hanamaki Onsen, instead. So Kakunodate is rather considered as only a sightseeing spot for day trippers without stay overnight or just a transit type sightseeing point. Opening of the new inn in the town is expected to help promoting sightseeing of Kakunodate.

View Kakunodate-sanso WABIZAKURA in a larger map

＜Reference materials＞

http://wabizakura.com/

http://kakunodate-kanko.jp/

Monthly Hotel Ryokan January 2012

http://www.ikyu.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

■For travelers from overseas

As a certified guide-interpreter in English and also a writer of the website “Cool Japan Guide”, I am very happy to introduce ‘Kakunodate-sanso WABIZAKURA’. If you have something to ask, like to make reservation, or need English speaking tour guide when visit to Kakunodate town inAkita prefecture, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your kind cooperation, I am looking forward to your contact.

Please Contact Us/お問合せ

■Introduction of the specialist for Onsen design

If you like to build a real Japanese style hot spring facility in your country, I would like to introduce one of the best Japanese architects, Mr. Hiroshi Ebisawa, who is the author of a technical book ‘ONSEN’ specialized in design for Japanese Style SPA. The bilingual book written in Japanese-English is published by Rikuyosha Co. (http://www.rikuyosha.co.jp/) which is available at most bookstores inJapan.

Please contact: http://www.e-koubo.co.jp/